Dancing our hearts away
by paulinaghost
Summary: Shuichi doesn't know whether he should back out of singing with Kaede at a pool party. He gets a cold a few days before said party and has a fever dream of becoming a penguin. He meets the penguin equivalent of his friends with names all music related and might just learn the answer to his problem.
1. Chapter 1

**This one was actually on the list of fics I wrote down weeks ago. Random little thing but just thought it would be a cute silly adventure since I realized I write a bit more over-serious stuff then I honestly mean to. This in it's own way balances things I think. I do not claim ownership of Happy Feet or Danganronpa.**

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 _~"Midnight creeps so slowly into hearts of those..._

Shuichi Saihara took a another bite of the odd foreign soup Angie had given him for his cold. He watched on mildly amused at the also foreign cartoon movie playing. It was a silly but cute kids film about dancing and singing penguins that Kaede had bought and watched with him once out of boredom. She loved musicals of all kinds even if they were kid aimed. On top of the music she said silly movies like these were nice to watch when you were stressed about things.

 _..who need more then they get."~_

The crush of the main character penguin began getting swarmed by suitors singing songs that didn't seem to impress her. The voice actress had great pitch he couldn't deny which made his mind wander to the person he was trying to not think about right now and how he was going to disappoint her. Now he never by any league claimed to be a genius just because he was a detective but by no means did he think he was stupid. Was he easily anxious? Sure. Occasionally shy? Yes. Needing the occasional confidence boost? Once again absolutely yes. Stupid wasn't something he'd ever label himself until a few weeks ago when for whatever reason he agreed to be her singing partner for an up coming graduation pool party.

He'd gotten a little better at socializing with the help of Kaito and Kaede when it came to parties since he first came to Hope's peak. Even still they made him anxious despite nothing really being demanded of him other then being present and making the occasional small talk. He was never expected to actually do anything that made him the center of attention at them. Three weeks before the party she asked for help from anyone in class who could do a duet with her. Originally he wasn't going to say anything until he saw Rantaro, her now ex-boyfriend approaching. Before the sensible part of his brain could make him keep his mouth shut he blurted out a "I can help!". Thus he sealed his fate and the cold he had wasn't helping matters.

 _~Daylight deals a bad hand to a penguin_

 _who has laid to made to many bets.~_

Shuichi should of took it back right then and there. The smart thing to do would of been to just let her sing with Rantaro even at the risk of them getting back together. Honestly he really, really, really, was planning on doing it the next day or the one after that for sure. Only problem was anytime he'd bring up the party she would start gushing happily and smiling that cute excited smile that made his heart skip a beat. Her pretty lilac would light up with so much hope and anticipation that any motivation to say something that would make that light dimmer even a little was killed on the spot.

 _~The mirror stares you in the face_

 _and says baby "uh, uh, it don't work."~_

It wasn't like he had any real singing talent. Even though his friends all insisted he sounded fine at rehearsals he just knew he'd choke in front of strangers. He might really be the first real case of dying from embarrassment in front of both his peers and crush. He might of been being a bit dramatic there but he felt fully justified in his worry despite Kaito trying to encourage him otherwise.

~ _You say your prayers though you don't care_

 _you dance and shake the hurt!_

 _Dance, dance, dance! Boogie Wonderland.~_

Watching the main character penguin woo his love interest with his tap dance skills made Shuichi wish he himself had at least that going for him. Even if Shuichi had that skill he didn't think he could honestly confess his feelings with singing, dancing, or just straight up saying it. Instead he was just himself here worrying about his impending doom while watching talking cartoon animals succeed at love where he didn't have the spine. It was then that he realized this movie wasn't going to do his problem nor his cold any favors so he turned it off and attempted to sleep.

 **At class next day**

"Hey Shuichi did Angie's weird soup help your cold any?" Kaito asked him the second class began.

"I-I think it helped a little bit but my head still aches some and my throat still tingles a bit." Shuichi responded the best his voice allowed.

"Neeheehee, hey dead man walking! Your sounding a bit horse there but don't worry about your hat collection if you die out there. I'll sell them for enough money to get Rantaro a new piercing kit I know he's been wanting to buy." Kokichi teased.

"Why would anyone want Pooichi's crusty hats? Besides I'm sure he'd love something fun he can only get from a gorgeous girl genius like me anyway." Miu chimed in. Anytime Rantaro was brought up the two couldn't resist arguing who he liked more.

"If he wants that kind of "fun" he can roll himself in toxic waste to get the same disease, bitchlet. Also plenty of people will want the hat signed by his famous uncle. I didn't take a forgery class in 5th grade for nothing. Neehehee, that a lie! Though honestly everyone knows a lot of famous people's stuff becomes way more valuable when their dead." Kokichi stated as if it was helping anything.

"Shut it you little shit, he's not dying or going to die. You'll do great out there Shuichi! Even if you mess up, Kaede's opinion of you won't change and is all that matters here. She's been listening to us practice and wouldn't still be excited if she was having second thoughts on you as her partner right?" Kaito asked.

"Yeah, I know your right and I know she wouldn't hold anything against me if I do mess up. Still I'm not sure I'll be able to look her in the eyes for the next few weeks depending on how bad I blow it. This cold really isn't helping any and the party is only a few days away." Shuichi complained.

"Oh c'mon man don't think that way, try meditating more positive thoughts and I'm sure things won't go half as bad as your making it."

Before Shuichi could argue otherwise the teacher came in and told everyone to quiet down before starting class. As the teacher rambled on and started talk about something completely un-science class related, Shuichi's headache started to worsen. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night with his worries plaguing him and he thought about taking Kaito's advice.

Kaito didn't always give the most helpful advice but he had his days every now and then. To close his eyes and just try blanking his mind of the negative for a few seconds did feel tempting even if it was the middle of class. Slowly closed his eyes and tried just meditating his mind for a bit. He must of done it a little to well because the next thing he knew he was surrounded by dreamy darkness as he fell asleep.

 **1 hour later**

When Shuichi started to stir again with his eyes still closed he felt his headache seemed to have melted away. On a less positive note he was hit by the sudden feeling of chills and they were multiplying. It had been a slightly chilly summer but next this cold.

 _"Did Kokichi mess with the air-conditioning again?"_ He thought this to himself before opening his eyes and prepared to help his friends hunt down the little trouble maker to fix things. Thoughts of asking Gonta for another small human sized net were halted at the sight of snow as far as the eye could see. His friends, classroom, and any form of civilization were nowhere in sight.

"Wh-what! When did I get outside?! Where did all this snow even come from it's summer!" Shuichi's screams to the distant hill of cold frost went unanswered. Before the boy detective could have his very first real heart attack the sound of a familiar voice behind him filled him with some relief.  
"Dude, can ya keep down the screaming some? The hatchlings are in the middle of heart song class and I really don't want to deal with more noise complaints this week." said the voice.

"Huh, hatchlings? What are you talking about Kaito? I don't even know how we got out-!" Shuichi cut himself off as he turned around to face what he thought would be his friend. Instead the creature in front of him looked like an odd penguin with a color scheme and features similar to him. It's body plumage was the same light purple of Kaito's jacket around it's sides and feet. The exception being it's front was white like a normal penguin along with one white flipper. Odder was the feathering on it's head unnaturally styled long slightly darker purple feathers in a similar shape to Kaito's hair.

"Uh, I don't know any penguin named ku-toe or whatever but my names Wentz: TOP PENGUIN GAURDIAN OF SNOWYPEAKS! You look new around here so I'll let you off with a warning this time okay? By the way what's your name?" Kaito's feathered doppelgänger asked.

Shuichi didn't know how to respond to this. How was he suppose to respond to this? He unconsciously put he hand to his mouth out of habit when he needed to process things. It was only then that he realized he couldn't actually feel all his fingers except for what felt like one. To his horror upon looking down at his arm where a human hand should be was now a black and white flipper with grey lines on the outer side similar to his normal clothes.

 _"I'm one to?!_

With the new odd reality hitting him all at once he did the only reasonable thing via fainting.

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 **If I'm honest this only partly because I want to test the waters of lyric laws here and what's safe but mostly because Shuichi as a singing penguin just seemed like a cute idea. Whether or not this feathery groove train wreaks itself or sails on smoothly is in the air. Comment, sub, or share this silly fic if you want to. The song used in the beginning was "Boogie Wonderland by Brittnay Murphy. Originally it was a song by the group " Earth, Wind, and Fire." I do not claim ownership of it or any of the future songs.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone! I'm glad this got at least a little attention from my last upload. I honestly forget why I thought of this fic. I swear I don't do drugs or drink I just had a burst of ideas for fics where characters I like turn into animals or are already animals along with musical numbers. No idea why.**

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When Shuichi regained consciousness he thought he'd awoken from his weird dream only to find himself in an igloo.

He seemed to be laying on a make shift bed made of sticks, snow, and dirt. On top of that, when he looked down at his body he realized he was still indeed a penguin.

 _"So it wasn't a dream? No, logically this has to still be a dream, people don't just randomly become penguins. It's far to coincidental that said penguins would look that much like my friends after I just watched a movie about human like penguins. I don't remember them having igloos in the movie though..."_ Shuichi was concentrating to hard to notice he had company until they spoke.

"Kaakaakaa, you look pretty out of it. Need a fish for your thoughts?" Said the new voice.

Shuichi jump up and almost fell out of the bed face first. Looking up he was greeted to the cackling feathered face of what no doubt was Kokichi in penguin form. He was small for a penguin much like one of the adelie penguins. Unlike with Kaito only the button colors that he'd usually see on his "supreme leader uniform" looked fused with his stomach feathers. His checkered black and white scarf however was visibly tangible.

 _"Oh, so some wear clothes."_ He thought.

Penguin kokichi must of noticed his staring before speaking again.

"Like my scarf? I got it after I killed my former human owners." It said casually.

"What?! Human owne-"

"It's a lie! Gotcha kaakaakaa, you should see the look on your face. My beloved and I did have owners once but they died in a car crash years ago." It said with a grin.

"That's a lie to right?" Shuichi was starting to see the pattern.

"Wow, your a quick one with this huh? My evil penguin army could always use someone with quick flippers and a quick brain. Wanna join it instead of hanging with boring old Wentz's flock of losers? You'll be guaranteed all the fish you can each and all the cute chicks you can handle or dudes, we don't really judge." It boasted.

"Evil penguin army? I'm sorry I don't really follow what you mean."

"Oops, I forgot a new recruit needs to know the name of their boss before the sign up. I'm Elton, future leader of this place and every place that's icy. A few non icy places to if I can get these annoying surfer hippie penguins off my property. They are seriously as annoying as humans with it." Elton explained.

"Penguins can surf? Wait no, more importantly are there other humans here? Could they understand us if we tried talking?" He asked hopefully.

The only response he got was a blank face and confused head tilt for several seconds.

"Are you one of those former lab animals like Nicki or former circus pet like Letters? I can't picture any sane penguin that would want to talk to humans even if they could understand us. Also I don't get what you mean by "other humans" as if you were one. If your this off maybe I don't want you in my army but I do kind of want that hat."

Elton then slid on his stomach to the edge of Shuichi's bed and picked up his cap which he didn't realize he even still had with him. He then put it on his head and started hopping around with it.

"I don't know any Nicki or Letters but please give me back my hat." Shuichi finally stood up and attempted to grab his hat from Elton only for all his attempts at swiping to be nimbly evaded.

The small penguin just smirked at him before singing as he continued to switch between hopping or sliding out of reach.

~ _Finders keepers, losers weepers_

 _I see what's mine and take it!~_

"It's not yours and you skipped an entire verse before that line. Give it back already!"

"Leaders get to skip whatever lyrics they feel like for fun as well as take whatever they want." Elton said this with a snicker before a sudden rush of light purple plumage headbutted him and seized the hat back.

"I thought I smelled something small and annoying nearby. Leave my new friend alone you little weirdo!" Wentz honked at him in anger.

"Ouch! You didn't have to be a bully about it, I was just playing with my new recruit. I was totally going to give the hat back right before you did that you meanie. Pinky swear." Elton said while raising his flipper to the other.

"Even if that was true you shouldn't be touching stuff that doesn't belong to you. Also we don't even have pinkies." Wentz retorted

"Well duh, I was lying idiot. Still I'm bored of playing with him, he's about as weird as the others here. Smell ya later!" The little penguin then sped out the cave sliding on his stomach.

Wentz just shook his head while still looking annoyed at where the little trespasser came from before turning back to Shuichi.

"Sorry I let that guy slip by and bother you. I'm glad to see your awake though." Wentz commented before returning his hat.

"No, it's okay he didn't bother me to bad and he did answer some questions for me."

"Really? What questions did you have?"

 _Should I tell him about me being human? No, I don't want him thinking I'm weird too._ Shuichi thought.

"Oh, I was just wondering stuff like why do some penguins here wear clothes and others don't. I just got here so I don't really know how things work here." Even though he wasn't the best liar he could still do it convincing enough.

"Since you had a human hat I kinda assumed you must be from a zoo or something like me. Whether it was because the zoo shut down or the zoo humans wanting to save some money by letting you go it doesn't matter. Penguins from all waddles of life are welcomed here in Canada. No worries."

 _"So this is Canada? That at least explains the igloos."_ Shuichi thought.

"Hey since you're new here do you want to go to a party later? It's the best way to meet new penguins! I can even give you a tour of the place while we're at it." Wentz's tail feathers wiggled with excitement as he spoke. It must of been a while since he had this opportunity.

"Ah, no I really appreciate your help and all but I actually not really the party type and..." Shuichi paused unsure how to continue his excuse. He didn't want to others here thinking he was crazy.

"I'm honestly just not big social party type. I wouldn't mind the tour though."

The tall penguin immediately grabbed him by the flipper and tugging him outside to start the tour. Shuichi had never been to Canada a day in his life but even he was positive they didn't have snow buildings let alone such detailed ones like the ones he was seeing. It was like some odd mix of his own town but recreated in the form of detailed stick and snow monstrosities. How the heck had no humans discovered all of this? Along the tour they spotted an odd pair by a cliff looking down at a large body of water. What made one of them stand out most then the other penguins was the antenna sticking out of his head and an oddly shiny body. Next to it was a pink and white penguin with long blonde feathers. It was wearing very familiar looking googles on it's head.

If this dream world was following the pattern of who he know then it wasn't hard to guess that was kiibo and Miu. Wentz seemed to notice them to and waddle over with him in toe.

"Oh, look over there! That's the Nikki and Domo, they help making igloos for everyone. Hey guys, this is Shuichi." Wentz introduced.

"Do I look like I care about meeting another zoo dumped butt buddy that you made? Me and Domo are waiting for Ringo's fine tail to come back. The tracker l made and linked with Domo's censors say he should be close by." said Nikki

"You mean **_if_** that mishmash of wires on him actually works." Elton's mocking voice along with the rest of him suddenly appeared from in between the two.

"It was made by me and unlike you that pile of wires actually serves a purpose."

"My purpose is to rule this land alongside Ringo as my mate. Your's is making the elephant seals lose their lunch so you can eat. Heaven knows your mug scares living fish away."

Before Nikki could retort back with something equally mean, Domo spoke for the first time since meeting. His voice had an odd clicking noise between his words.

"I think I see him Nikki!"

A part of shuichi had already assumed who this Ringo would be if all the parallels followed their pattern. Sure enough in the distance a lump of messy green feathers could be seen approaching in the distance before breaching the surface. As he shook off the water one could hear but not see some voices singing as if it were planned.

~ _He's a bad mamma jamma,_

 _just as fine as he can be.~_

This immediately sent Nikki and Elton into fan girl screeching as they waved to get his attention.

Shuichi felt like the longer this dream was going on the bigger a headache he was getting and the screaming really wasn't helping.

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 **Anyone remember when I made this thing cause I sure as sheep don't. Still felt the need to update something this month before it's over so here we are. It isn't going to be a long fic and maybe just 2 more chapters.**


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